In a strategic response to Rogers, Bell will be discounting the iPhone 5 16GB and 32GB to $99.95 and $199.95 respectively on a three-year term. TELUS has also discounted the iPhone 5 16GB to $99 and in a cutthroat move has put the 32GB version on sale for $149 and the 64GB version for $199.

Bell and TELUS will launch the promotion today, pushing it both online and in stores. Virgin Mobile, a subsidiary of Bell, will also be launching the same promotion.

No word on when these are ending, but we’d guess sometime towards the end of March, perhaps the 18th as well.

Update: Fido has also discounted the 16GB and 32GB versions of the iPhone 5 to $100 and $200 respectively on a three-year term.

talarico

Took them a little longer than I expected.

REDRUM

FIRE SALE BEGINS!!!!

jess

oh apple, your products not the strongest in the market anymore. I think the price drop is due to the new samsung being annonced, need to compete somehow when your company only releases a phone once a year.

til-bar

They all release one flagship per year, just at different times.

It isn’t that surprising. Does the consumer want the new HTC/Samsung at 199 or the 6 month old iPhone 5 at half the price. Competition is good for the consumer.

jc

Fido also has the price drop.

Shady

In the history on all iphones when has a price drop this large happened so soon.

Crank3

Even Telus’s ‘massive’ price drop amounts to $2.22 a month. Yes, clearly Apple is in trouble.

Phreezerburn

Apple micro-manages every aspect of their chain right on through to the RETAIL end of their products. Crack a book.

Tommy

Not surprised with the price drop to spur more sales. The current batch of iPhone is behind the competition.

Yet the iPhone 4S(an older model) outsold every other phone on the market, but go ahead and blame i on the dumb consumers for the 5 year in a row

Huh

So an iPhone 5 price drop to $99 means that Apple is behind the competition. This is represents $80 savings over regular price.

What are you going to say when you find out that the Telus GS3 is now $0 and launched at $159 in Summer 2012? What about the Note 2 at $49, which launched at $199 in Q4 2012 after iPhone 5?

Since the newer Note 2 is discounting from original price nearly twice as much as an older iPhone 5 what does that say?

Can’t wait to hear the logical reasoning on this one.

Tommy

@Rio

Those were the good ol’ days when SJ was around. What are the cupertino boys doing now? iWatch

Wewewi

Is the actual retail price dropping or is it just the on-contract subsidy?

They are just putting more money on the Tab or whatever they call it, don’t they?

Peter

Yes, all they are doing is changing the subsidized price, so the retail price hasn’t changed, but if you ask the average consumer they’ll say that they got an iPhone 5 for $99. They never mention the full price of the phone because in their minds, the upfront cost is all they paid for it.

That said, this move like the Christmas sale on the iPhone point to one of two realities. 1) Sales of the iPhone 5 aren’t meeting projections. 2) The rumours of Apple moving to a bi-annual release schedule for their products. Which could be a good thing if approached properly.

HiKsFiles

Wait, allow me to emerge from deep sleep… am I seeing some true old fashionned competition in which the consumer has the upper hand. No wait, pinch me … I must still be dreaming. By the way, I couldn’t care less whether they discount iPhones, Androids, BBs or even WP… as long as the consumer is the clear winner, I’m all in. Now… how about a promo on 2 years contracts please?! 😉

Dalex

Fido has decent discounts on 2 year contracts on a multitude of phones. I wonder why the others don’t follow suit there 😛

skuuce

Well put!

Peter

Until the no contract price of phones starts to decline this is nothing more than a shell game to make people think they got a deal, so in the end the consumer still gets the same amount of shaft. Just a little less up front.

Shady

Gotta love what has happened to the Apple giant.

Nick

This isn’t really about the iPhone losing appeal… guarantee its the Canadian telcos finally realizing (or rather, know their time is up) they can’t keep charing high prices and demand your submission with a 3 year contract.

By this time next year, iPhones will be available under 2 year terms for relatively the same price you get down in the US.

Stupid

You seriously think they are “learning” and will give in to less profit willingly?

It’s because of low sales volume and competing product launches coming up very soon. (In other words.. To make more money now while they can.)

Nick

The telcos are fully aware of what they’re doing and that the writing is on the wall as far as 3 year contracts go. This is simply a sales drive (ie. ploy) to get people to submit to ridiculous 3 year terms before the CRTC slaps a wireless code in their face…

But just before the slap, the telcos will say how “benevolent” they are in giving the people what they want… 2 year terms.

Sure, the iPhone might be losing some sales because other phones are available for cheaper or under 2 years (depending on carrier)… but don’t kid yourself, they’ll do anything to keep a leash on you for 3 years, even if it means charging a little less up front.

Tom

it’s not about the iphone losing appeal, it’s about unloading inventory since pretty much all the apple diehard fanboys already bought their iphones months ago.

Call of Duty gets discounted to $39.99 from $59.99 after 1 year. Does it mean Call of Duty is getting less popular?

jay

The price are all the same. One starts and all other follow. Even the prices on contract are the same. Best thing what happend is the nexus 4 hope some companys will follow.

@PlazmicFlame

iPhone 5S arrival is imminent…

Stupid

If by imminent you mean 3 months away, then you are correct.

Citsalp

I dunno. A lot of you are talking about 2 year contracts but I just don’t see it happening. I don’t see the CRTC doing this anytime soon. I’m sure the big telcos are greasing-up the CRTC members. Isn’t that what happens to government organizations?

David

Is no one looking at the bigger picture? Lack of competition in Canada? They ALL have the same price…how is this legal? And how pathetic that they all play follower the leader to one another.

Marco

The release of the iPhone 5 was a mistake and people are finally seeing that this is just the same old iPhone 4 but with a bigger screen. I think this is why sales won’t be as great as the iPhone 4/4S

Don

I wonder what month Apple stocks (aapl) and Blackberry stocks (bbry) are going to be the same price?

Sweet

Woah, I was right, it is a price war. Unfortunately, this one is bad for the consumer. It is most likely nothing more than an attempt to lock people into 3-year contracts before the wireless code kicks in.

What consumers need is discounts on the unsubsidised prices of phones. That would encourage more people to stop locking themselves into contracts. But the Big 3 would never want that, so they do the opposite, and discount the subsidised prices to encourage people to lock themselves into the longest contracts available.

I really hope the CRTC prevents carriers from tying phone discounts to service contracts and perhaps banning subsidies altogether. Carriers could then offer cheaper monthly rates in exchange for signing a contract, similar to what happens when you pay the next 6 months of a service (TV, Skype,ISP, etc.) upfront. Technically, it could work out to the same savings as they currently offer now (most Canadians wouldn’t realize it because they only look at the cost of the phone and the monthly rate), except the customer would be made aware of the true retail cost of the phones and wouldn’t need to sign a contract if they want a phone discount. It would also cause the rebirth of independent retail sales of phones at market-driven prices, which is what we really need.

Sweet

If the price reductions were a result of lower demand for the iPhone5, then the carriers would be reducing the unsubsidised prices as well. But they’re not.

SN86

It’s not a sale unless they cut the true cost of the phone since that is what shows up on the device subsidy box. Applies to Quebec since the ETF is the device cost remaining.

MattyMattMatt

You should look at Bell again, the pricing is 100/150/200 respectively.